Medication to help control the symptoms of RA is important for two main reasons:

• DMARDs take time to be clinically effective and patients require bridging therapy to help overcome initial symptoms
• Patients may need extra therapy to help relieve symptoms during a flare-up of disease activity, when they may have increased pain, swelling, fatigue and fever. 

Corticosteroids can produce rapid relief from inflammatory symptoms. They are not recommended for long-term use due to their side effect profile but are used short-term at initial disease presentation or to bridge a patient over a period of instability, for example when changing DMARDs, or to help manage a flare-up.